After All This Time
by TheEmberRaven
Summary: After 16 years, Mystique decides to pay attention to her son, but Xavier and Kurt are both opposed to her actions. Wolverine and the X-men, pre-show, and with some twists of my own. You have been warned!
1. Chapter 1

**After All This Time...**

**Summary: After 16 years, Mystique decides to pay attention to her son, but Xavier and Kurt are both opposed to her actions. Wolverine and the X-men, pre-show, and with some twists of my own. You have been warned!**

**Author's Note: ** Aggghhh I haven't done anything in like, a millennia. Time to get back in the saddle. This story is for my fans, who requested another story, and for myself, because I'm stressed out with school and this is a most excellent form of therapy. Seriously, this stuff is better than yoga, and I know it's true, because I do yoga every day. Yoga is beautiful! Sorry that was probably totally boring. I need to rant every now and then, jeeze. Don't judge...

**Chapter 1:**

"Come on, Forge. Who wrote 'Eye of the Tiger'?" Kitty, Kurt, Angel, Bobby, Forge, and Rogue were sitting around a board game. Kitty was stretched out on her stomach, a flimsy trivia card in one hand. She kept a constant gaze on Forge, hoping to intimidate him and keep him from guessing the right answer. Forge whispered to himself, trying to remember the answer. Everyone else, save Rogue, was either grinning or stifling a laugh.

"Come on, Forge," Bobby teased. "This is basic American trivia here." Forge replied with a death glare.

After ten more seconds, he gave up. "I dunno. Journey?"

Everyone laughed. "Um, no," Kitty chuckled. "That would be Survivor. And here I mistook you for a genius."

"Intelligence and trivia knowledge have little correlation," Forge sulked.

Since he was next to Kitty, it was Bobby's turn to read a question. "K, so, Angel—for three points—can you tell me what the capital of Spain is?"

"Uh, jeeze, I slept through most of Geography. Ummmm…" Angel ruffled his wings anxiously and stared at the floor, as if he would see the answer there.

"Madrid," Kurt hissed discreetly, as he was right next to him. Angel nodded.

"Ooooh, Kurt, no cheating," Bobby hooted, catching the exchange. "But you happen to be right, so I won't penalize you—much."

"Darn," Kurt grinned.

Bobby fiddled with the tiny plastic playing pieces until he had the points straight. Rogue crossed and uncrossed her arms and sighed dramatically. "No wonder they call these things bored games."

"Now, Rogue, I don't think you're really appreciating the delicate art of gaming," Bobby interjected. "If you actually participate, you might have fun, and even win. Right, now, Angel, it's your turn to ask the question."

Angel picked a bright red card and read from the backside. "So, who stars as the main character in Scarface? Kitty, you get to answer."

Kitty groaned. "Aw crap, I never get these stupid movie ones."

"Well, give me your best guess."

Just then, the Professor's voice was inside all of their heads. _Students, I need you all to gear up and meet Logan in the plane hangar. We've got a situation._

Cards tossed on the ground, the game quickly abandoned without a second glance, the students all ran to their rooms to get their uniforms. In less than five minutes, they assembled in the plane hangar, awaiting further instruction. They hoped Logan would be pleased, but when they arrived, he was in a volatile mood.

"No fooling around, any of yeh. Get in the jet and I'll explain the mission. Move."

There wasn't a single hesitation as the students ran for the jet and scrambled into their seats quickly. Angel sat with Kurt. Kitty with Bobby. Forge—well—Forge sat alone. The other alternative was trying to sit next to Rogue, which was basically a death sentence. Logan sat in the pilot chair and swiveled around to address his X-men. "The prof sensed some activity from some of Magneto's henchmen. We're going to check it out. I know some of you have never dealt with Magneto's soldiers before, so this'll be a learning experience, of sorts. But I'm very serious when I say I want no fooling around. We could be in for one helluvah fight. Everyone clear?" Everyone nodded.

oOo

The plane flight was relatively long—about two hours. The students fretted around, anxiously awaiting their arrival….wherever it was they were going. Logan had never specified, but then again it was his way to be cryptic. Kurt and Angel quietly joked around, taking turns breathing on the glass window and drawing in the film before it dissipated. Kitty and Bobby flirted, at least until Bobby decided to power nap, which made the inside of the jet quiet cold. Forge played around with one of his gadgets, and Rogue brooded to herself, enjoying the silence for once.

The plan landed somewhere in the mountains, from what the students could tell by peeking through their foggy windows. Logan said nothing about the location except "Everyone grab a coat, unless you want t'freeze to death." Conveniently piled in the back of the jet was a heap of thin yet fluffy jackets and gloves to match. Everyone shrugged on some extra layers and slipped out of the jet into the rough crunchy snow.

"Holy crap it's cold," Angel remarked.

"An' deep," Rogue added. She sunk almost thigh-deep into the thick ice crystals.

Bobby ran around in a circle, forgetting the seriousness of the mission for a moment. "So…..much snow," he cried. Kitty slapped him back into reality.

"Cut it out, popsicle. And Kurt, where's your coat?" Kurt was wading around in the snow, seemingly content even though he was only wearing a skin-tight suit. He looked at Kitty and tugged at a ridge of fur along his arm.

"I already have a coat, Keety. I'm fine." Kitty glared at him skeptically but said nothing. If Kurt and Bobby were nuts enough to run around in artic weather without protection, then that was their problem, not hers.

Kitty waddled over to Logan, who was surveying the area, and asked, "So, uh exactly where are we, Mr. Logan?" Logan showed no sign he'd heard her. He continued to peer through his binoculars and twitch every now and then.

Finally, he replied. "Canada. This is Mount Assiniboine, near Alberta."

Kitty nodded and looked around too. Wherever they'd landed seemed to be pretty rough—there were lots of jagged rocks and peaks, and a stretch of harsh white snow as far as the eye could see—but she guessed it was a pretty mountain from another location. "So, is there some secret base up here or something?"

"Yeah," Logan said, glancing down at her. "Sumthin' like that." He turned to face the other students, who were stumbling around in the snow as best they could. "X-men follow me. We're going fer a bit of a walk."

The students obeyed, following Logan down a shallow snow bank to a flatter area. From there, they trudged through the snow, which had suddenly dipped from thigh-deep to waist deep. Kitty, the shortest member of the team, climbed onto Kurt's back before he could protest and wrapped her arms around his warm throat. "Sorry fuzzy. I need a ride. No way I can walk through that snow."

"Can't you just phase through ze snow or something?" Kurt grumbled. "I don't see vhy I have to carry you."

Kitty grinned. "I'm saving my strength for other stuff. Besides, you're strong. And you're the tallest person in the group, except for Logan, but I can't exactly crawl on his back, now can I?" Kurt sighed and leaned back, causing Kitty to let go and fall into the snow. She spat a mouthful of snow out of her mouth and glared at Kurt. "That was NOT nice, Kurt."

"Nor vas jumping on my back vithout asking. I am not your pack animal."

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. There was a strained silence between Kitty and Kurt, but everyone else seemed to like the quiet. They were all starting to tense up anyhow. In the hazy distance, they could see a forest, and not deep inside of it was something large and shiny. Logan explained that it was a plane that belonged to Magneto's men. "What's so special about a plane?" one of the students asked curiously.

"It's got Magneto's henchman in it, and that's enough," was Logan's slow reply. "His soldiers don't leave that stupid island of theirs unless they're up to sumthing."

"Genoshia?" Bobby asked. "What does Magneto do there anyway?"

Logan shrugged. "I dunno. And I don't wanna know." The forest was much closer now, only a few hundred feet away. The tall trees were clearly visible, and through the thin vegetation, there was the plane, lightly covered in snow and ice. Logan warned everyone to be cautious. He didn't smell anyone in the plane or the immediate vicinity, but they couldn't have gone far. Once inside the forest, Logan has everyone fan out, but stay within everyone else's visual field. He didn't want a student to disappear or be isolated if someone decided to attack them. Slowly, cautiously, everyone approached the plane. The doors were wide open, and—as only Logan with his super-fine senses detected—swinging slightly, as if they'd recently been pushed open and left that way. Just then, the breeze shifted directions and he caught scent of some unfamiliar scents.

Before he could give warning, it was too late. Four adult mutants jumped out of the trees and descended upon the students like spiders on a web. Logan glanced around quickly, trying to assess the whole situation in one micro-second. He could see a tall, slender woman with burgundy hair, deep blue skin, and piercing yellow eyes. There was another woman, shorter and squatter, with green-ish skin and bright blue eyes. She had a pretty face, but an unnaturally flexible mouth that hinged open up to her ears. Logan found it disturbing. Then there were two men—one with fiery hair and actual fire pouring from his mouth and hands, and the other was a young black man with a feline face and tail.

The students took on the adversaries as best they could. Forge pulled out a stun gun he'd been working on and started shooting at visible targets. Bobby took advantage of the ample amounts of snow at his disposal and whipped up a tiny snow tornado. Unfortunately, his first victim was the fiery haired man, on whom the attacks had little effect. Rouge was knocked out before she could touch anyone with her bare skin, but she managed to give the wide-mouthed woman a sound kick in the ribs. Kitty fought with the fiery man for a while after Bobby gave up trying to fight him, and managed to knock him out with a blow to the head. Angel took on the wide-mouthed woman and had little trouble with her, since Rogue had softened her up with a damaging blow.

That left Kurt with the blue skinned woman. She was the one who got close to Rogue by pretending to be Bobby and then caught her off guard and easily beat her down. She approached Kurt from behind also, in the form of Angel this time. She drew one of her wings back and shot it out like a whip, striking Kurt across the back of his ribs. He fell and turned to look at his opponent as she shifted back into her natural state. Their eyes met for a moment, and the blue skinned woman hesitated to attack. She stared at the boy lying crumpled in the snow and for a split second, she couldn't find it in herself to hurt him. But then the confusion wore off, and launched herself at him, but at the last second, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving her alone with a very odd feeling of regret that she couldn't explain.

By this time, the wide-mouthed woman had regained consciousness, taken the fiery man and the cat man and vanished with them into thin air. The blue skinned woman fled, seeing she was far outnumbered. That left the Xavier students, who were scattered across the snow, either high-strung from the fight or half-dazed from being beaten up. Logan, who's been fighting the cat man and had seen the whole fight, helped Kitty to her feet.

"Oww, Logan my head hurts," Kitty complained as she rubbed her temples gingerly.

"Logan!" Angel cried. He was standing near Forge, who was lying in a pool of his own blood. Logan rushed over to see how bad things were. Forge was totally unconscious, eagle-spread in the snow. His eyes were half-open and blank, and his breathing was ragged. Logan couldn't keep himself from gasping as he approached-most of Forge's right arm was mangled, the bone exposed in a few places.

"Oh god," Kitty choked, turning away and burying her face in Logan's side.

"Oh boy," Logan muttered, remembering that he had to keep his calm. "Uh, Angel, Kurt, get Forge into the X-jet. Now. And be gentle."

Angel bent down to pick up Forge under his arms. Logan looked around and saw Kurt standing alone, staring off into space. "Kurt!" he yelled. "Get over here, now."

Kurt remained frozen for another moment. He was staring vacantly towards where the blue skinned woman had fled. He was confused, though he didn't know why. It bothered him. Something about the woman made him uneasy. But Logan's sharp words drew him back to reality, and after another moment he turned and ran towards the huddle of students nearby.

oOo

**Soooo chapter one is done (that was not supposed to rhyme….) and chapter two is coming soon, hopefully. If there's anyone out there still reading my stuff, please review! You have no idea how much reviews boost my self-confidence and make me feel good about my stuff. Plus, feedback—I love it, and it's good for my writing. And if you want to burn my story, that's ok too. :D**

**-The Ember Raven**


	2. Chapter 2

**After All This Time…**

**Author's Note: Yay for chapter 2. I'm really liking this story so far. Hope you are too. I would really quickly like to say thank you to Doglover500, JesusLover13, Guest, PhoenixScootaloo, DragonCat, Kaizer617, and UKnowWho for reviewing my story, especially JesusLover for leaving long, funny, wonderful reviews. Thank you, guys. You're the best. :P**

**And now, for the story….**

**Chapter 2:**

"How is he?" Angel asked Logan. He, Logan, Kurt, Kitty, and a few of the other students were standing outside the infirmary, anxiously awaiting any word on Forge's condition. Until recently, Logan had been inside the infirmary while Hank worked, but he'd decided to leave when the blood and gore got to be too intense for him. It wasn't that Logan couldn't handle blood—he could—, but it was hard to see one of his students suffering and being chopped to pieces.

Logan glanced at Angel, and then at his other students. The sadness was clearly visible in his old grey eyes. "Not so good, kids," was his reply. He stopped there. How could he tell his students—Forge's friends—that Forge was doing a lot worse than 'not so good'? From what he'd last seen, the poor boy was fighting for his life, and it was going to cost him his arm. Kitty was clearly the most distressed of the group. She and Forge were close friends, and for a long time, she'd had a crush on him. When she awkwardly tried to wrap her arms around him, Logan just sighed and patted her as comfortingly as he could manage.

"It's going to be ok Kitty," Bobby said reassuringly, though he didn't believe it himself. He tried stroking Kitty's hair gently, almost jealous that she was looking to her teacher for comfort instead of him. He shook his head and backed off, realizing what a terrible thought that was.

Logan carefully unwrapped Kitty's arms from his chest. "C'mon half-pint. Waiting 'round here and bein' sad ain't gonna help anything." He addressed all the students then, "Off to bed, all of yeh. It's late." Slowly, unwillingly, the student's dissipated and went their separate ways. Kitty sniffed and took Bobby's hand when he offered it. She looked back over her shoulder sadly. Her eyes moved from Logan to the infirmary door. _Please be ok_,_ Forge_, she thought, hoping that somehow he would survive in one piece. Only Bobby's distant tugging at her wrist pulled her away from her thoughts.

oOo

"Man, I hope Forge is ok," Angel said as he unmade his bed and crawled under the sheets. Kurt was sitting on his bed at the other end of the room, staring at his hands. He didn't appear to hear Angel's remark, and Angel noticed it.

"Hey, Kurt, you alright buddy?" Angel got out of bed, treaded over to Kurt's bed, and sat down beside his friend. Kurt looked up slowly, as if in a daze. He looked up at Angel with wide eyes. "Kurt?"

"Did you see zat woman?" Kurt asked. Angel scrunched his eyes, confused. He'd thought Kurt was upset over Forge, so this was an unexpected conversation turn for him.

"Um, which woman?"

"The one vith red hair und blue skin. From the fight today,"

"The one who snuck up on me and kicked me in the back? How could I forget?" Angel had lived with Kurt long enough to know when something was really eating at him, and he felt like this was one of those times. "Why? What's wrong?"

Kurt fidgeted and twisted his hands together in his lap before responding. "She vas about to attack me, but then she stopped, und she looked at me."

Angel bit his cheek, more confused now that before. "So?"

Kurt flicked his hands open, as if he could cast the answer into Angel's face and make it blatantly obvious to him too. "Because. She looked **at **me. Into me, like she knew me from somewhere….It vas like she knew me und wanted to say something to me. But zen she didn't…."

Angel didn't really understand, but he could see Kurt was upset about it, so he wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder and said, "It's ok, Kurt. I'm sure she was just crazy or something. You're probably just over thinking things, ok?"

Kurt nodded slowly, convincing himself Angel was right. "Ok," he agreed. Angel smiled, glad he'd been of some help.

He sat up and said, "Logan was right. We need some sleep. Don't worry about that blue-lady. I'm sure in a week or so, this whole thing will be behind us." And with that, he retreated to his own bed.

Kurt sighed and curled up on top of his sheets. "I doubt it," he muttered. This time, he was talking about Forge.

oOo

The next day at breakfast, everyone was eager to know how Forge was. The Professor stopped by the infirmary early in the morning to make sure he'd have something to tell the students at breakfast. When he arrived in the kitchen, five different students asked at the exact same moment, "How's Forge?" The Professor wheeled up to the table and laced his fingers together, like he did when he was about to say something serious. All the students picked up on it and immediately quieted down. "The good news is that Forge is stable for now, but I have some rather bad news. Hank tells me he'll probably be in the infirmary for a while—his injuries were extensive."

"How bad?" asked Angel.

"What happened to him?" asked a boy named Lee.

The Professor sighed. "Hank wasn't able to save his arm."

There was a loud, nearly simultaneous gasp or groan of pity from everyone at the table. "No!" Kitty breathed. Bobby patted her thigh comfortingly.

"As for your question, Lee, I'm not certain," the Professor replied calmly.

"It was that freaky big-mouthed woman," Angel interjected helpfully. "I saw it—well, part of it, at least. I don't know exactly what happened, but she just….nevermind," he trailed off, realizing he'd seen more than he wanted to see that day, and that he wasn't comfortable sharing what he'd witnessed. Everyone nodded understandingly.

"The point is, everyone, that Forge will be alright, but he won't be running the Danger Room sessions for a while or teaching Phys. Ed with Logan, and I'm hoping you'll all be supporting and gracious towards him as he recovers," the professor said with a mildly harsh tone to his voice. The students understood that he was serious and nodded, agreeing to help Forge in any way that they could.

After breakfast, Kitty grabbed Kurt and Angel and said, "Come on. I asked Hank before breakfast if we could see Forge for a minute and he said it would be ok."

Kurt stuffed the rest of a bagel in his mouth. "But Hank told us last night zat we couldn't visit him."

Kitty half-smiled. "Well, I managed to talk my way around that. We're in."

So the three of them ran down to the infirmary, and Kitty knocked on the door. She felt a deep sense of dread, and it surprised her. After a minute, during which all three students help their breath in suspense, Hank opened the door and stared down at them. His annoyed frown turned into a small smile. "Oh, you kids," he said.

"Yeah. Us kids," Kitty replied quietly. "You told me I could bring Kurt and Angel to see Forge."

Hank wiped his hands off on the edge of his shirt. Kitty saw and Kurt smelled the blood. The three of them followed Hank into the infirmary, taking slow, purposeful steps, as if they were about to approach a dead person. All three of them were extremely conscious of their hesitant actions, and it made them shyer and more timid. Hank approached the bed first and gently touched Forge on his good shoulder.

"He's unconscious right now, I'm afraid," Hank explained. "He's on some serious sedatives."

Kurt, Kitty, and Angel circled around Forge's bed. For a long time, they were silent, for there was nothing to do but stare and feel bad. Forge's entire right arm was missing from the shoulder down. What was left of his shoulder was heavily bandaged. Two or three different tubes were snaking from his remaining wrist to an IV nearby, and there was a thicker, whiter tube that plunged down his throat in one direction and hooked up to a breathing machine behind him. The rest of his body—what wasn't bandaged or stitched up one some way—was covered in dark, painful looking bruises.

Angel finally broke the silence. "So, he'll be ok, right? I mean, he's not going to be ok, obviously, but he'll live right?"

Hank nodded. "Yeah, he'll live. But he's not going to be very pleasant when he comes to. People tend to suffer a lot of depression when they recover from serious injury."

Everyone nodded in understanding. "What's he supposed to do?" Kitty asked. "Forge loves his mechanic work. Can he still do it?"

Hank shrugged uncertainly. "I'll be pretty hard, I imagine." He put a hand on Kitty's small shoulder. "Don't worry, Kitty. Forge is a flexible guy. He'll cope."

Kitty didn't seem very comforted by this, nor did Kurt or Angel. The boys slipped out of the room after a while, sensing that Kitty would prefer to be alone. Hank, too, withdrew from the room and sent Kurt and Angel on their way. "Come on, boys. Out you go. I think Kitty would like to be alone. You know how she is." Hank put a hand on both of their shoulders. "I know Forge is your friend, too. I promise I'll do everything to make sure he recovers quickly. That's all I can do right now." The boys nodded and walked out the door.

Angel sighed. "Well, this situation couldn't get any worse."

oOo

It was the evening of the following day. Most of the students were in bed—a few were still hanging around the kitchen and rec room. Storm was doing an evening check on her garden. Logan was patrolling the school grounds, keeping extra careful watch. He'd sensed ever since the fight in the mountains that something (or someone) had followed them back to civilization. He didn't have any evidence, just a strange feeling in his chest.

The professor was in his study for the evening, unwinding with a cup of tea while he finished filing some school paperwork. Unbeknownst to most of the students, it took an awful lot of paperwork, negotiation, and cover-up activity to keep the school running. As the professor turned to put something in his file cabinet, he telepathically sensed someone entering the school grounds. His initial temptation was to alert Logan, if he hadn't already smelled it, but the professor then decided against it. He read the person's thoughts long enough to determine they weren't an immediate threat, and they wanted to talk with him, specifically. As the mind grew closer, the professor, much to his contempt, recognized the approaching person.

"Raven," he said, turning around and facing the large window across the room, which he always kept unlocked. The window was slightly open, and in stepped the red-haired blue-skinned woman from the mountains. She left the window open a little, out of paranoid habit, and approached the professor slowly. She kept her face down, as if ashamed, and a light pink tint colored her cheeks.

"What do want, Raven?" the professor asked calmly. Raven hadn't spoken to him in a one-on-one setting in years. He knew if he wanted this to be a successful conversation he had to do things her way, and that meant acting like everything was normal.

The woman stood a few feet away from him and crossed her arms, signaling that she was uncomfortable and would probably be defensive if pried. "Charles, I need to talk to you about what happened a few days ago," the woman said in her deep, clipped tone. Her yellow eyes were hard, sharp, as if she could stab someone with her gaze.

"What could you possibly have to say for yourself?" Xavier replied, changing his tone to something more serious and cold. "One of my students lost a limb because you and your soldiers attacked them."

"They were looking for things that were not intended to be found," Raven snapped back. "I am sorry for any unnecessary damage we caused, but it couldn't be helped. Your students were in the way." He voice softened as she spoke.

"What could possibly be so important that you'd be willing to attack a group of teenagers to keep it hidden?" Xavier replied coldly.

Raven drew back, and her eyes narrowed again. "I didn't come here to be interrogated," she said.

"Why did you come here?" Xavier asked, exhaling to calm himself.

Raven glanced at him shiftily. "You don't know?"

"I have my guesses," the professor responded.

Raven looked down at the floor. Her posture changed to something a little tenser, and her face flushed bright red now. "I think one of your students may be my son."

Charles nodded, unsurprised. He'd suspected this ever since he'd first met Kurt and noticed the resemblance. "You knew?" Raven accused. Charles put up a calm hand in defense.

"It has crossed my mind before. Kurt—that is his name, so you know—is the right age to be your son, and the physical similarities you two share are quite strong." Raven relaxed a little as the professor spoke, taking in his words.

"I….I attacked him, back in Canada. Is he alright?" Raven asked. For the first time, kind emotion filled her voice, and it lit up the darkest part of her eyes with life.

"Yes. Fine, thankfully. He and the other students are…..having a hard time with a loss right now, but—ah, I think nothing more needs to be said about that," the professor trailed off.

"He has no idea, right?" Raven wondered. "About any of this? About me?"

Charles shook his head. "None that I'm aware of. He'd never seen you, until a few days ago, and I don't think he made the connection then."

Raven nodded and swallowed before saying: "I know this may be very inappropriate of me to ask, after…..all that I've done, but could I see him? Just talk to him and explain things to him?"

If Xavier could have risen out of his chair he would have. His face darkened defensively, and his fingers curled into fists. "Absolutely not, Raven. That's out of the question!"

Raven recoiled, a bit shocked at the intensity with which Charles spoke. At that moment, Logan opened the door and stepped in, snarling. "Charles, what's going…..what the hell?" he growled, catching sight of Raven's slender, dark form. Xavier turned to Logan and dismissed him with a few words of assurance. Reluctantly, Logan stepped out of the room and closed the door loudly, to show his displeasure. Xavier turned back to Raven.

"I'm sorry, Raven," he said, having calmed down a bit, "but I cannot allow you to see the boy. Not after all this time of ignoring him. And abandoning him."

Raven's mood shifted from angry to desperate, and she took his words like a slap in the face. "Charles, I am trying to do something right, here. I know I've made a lot of mistakes, but please, what I did all those years ago was the act of a child. That's all I was. I didn't know what to do. But, I want to fix things now. Please…."

"Raven, I'm sorry, but my answer is still 'no'. Your son doesn't even know his real mother is alive, and it's probably better that way," Charles said firmly, his tone implied that he was done arguing. Raven turned away from him and gritted her teeth in anger and frustration.

She turned to leave, and as she moved, her sadness and guilt showed in every step she took. Her shoulders hung and her feet dragged along the cold floor. She opened the window and turned to look at Xavier. "I'm sorry, Charles," she whispered sadly. With that, she slipped out the window into the night.

When he was sure she was gone, Charles let his defensive posture and rigid expression fall. He sighed and put his face gently in his hand. He wasn't sure if he should be angry or guilty himself, and in the end, the guilt won out.

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. Charles was too caught up in his own thoughts to reply, so Logan let himself in. He crossed the room and stood beside the professor. "Chuck, you ok?"

Xavier nodded.

"You wanna tell me what the hell that woman was doing in this school?"

oOo

**Chapter 2. Done! Hooray! I didn't even have writer's block. I have another story I'm working on (a one-shot, I think) and that's been taking up a bit of my time, but I'm trying to devote most of my free time to writing this. Chapter 3 coming soon, guys. Please keep reading and reviewing and being awesome.**

**-The Ember Raven**


	3. Chapter 3

**After All This Time…**

**A/N: Heh, sorry for the delays, everyone. School was brutal near the final exams, but that's over now, and summer's here so I've got plenty of spare time to write. I've gotten a few PMs from anxious readers wanting me to write more. That was kind of a reminder to get on the stick. Thanks, guys. ^^**

**Chapter 3:**

"So, lemme get this right," Logan said slowly as he leaned against the wall of the Professor's study and glared at his old friend suspiciously and defensively. "That woman—Raven—is Kurt's mother an' she wanted to make peace with you and ask if she could see Kurt?" The Professor nodded slowly, his face tight and his eyes hollow as he lost himself in his thoughts.

"I'm afraid that's how it is," he concurred simply. "Raven is most likely the boy's mother, and admittedly, I've heavily suspected that for some time. I of course told her 'No' to seeing Kurt. That would be very inappropriate of her after all this time…."

Logan raised a suspicious eyebrow. "You know her, I take it?"

The Professor leaned back in his chair. "Yes, I've known Raven since she was a teenager. She used to work with me, helping me find mutants, but then Eric came along and he offered her protection and security, and of course a chance to get back at humans for how they treated her….I lost her pretty quickly, though she did come back once, when Magneto threatened her life for defying him. She told me that Magneto manipulated her emotionally into doing a lot of his bidding, and I read her mind—it was all true. I felt bad for her at times, wished she would just leave him and his group and try for a normal life, but she never could. I haven't seen or heard from her in at least seventeen years. I don't know what's happened to her recently, but I guess Magneto's still got a strong grip on her."

"Not enough t'keep her from comin' to see if her son was here," Logan commented quietly. "Pretty audacious fer a woman who's never paid her kid any attention if yah ask me."

"I sensed distress from her," the Professor said. "She was guilty for what happened the other day, though that doesn't make it any better. She genuinely did want to see Kurt, too. But I couldn't allow that."

Logan opened his mouth and sighed when the words didn't come. He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to say. "You're not going tuh tell Kurt any of this, I assume," he said finally.

"No. It would kill him if he found out one of the people responsible for Forge's condition was his parent. I think it's best if this information doesn't leave the room," the Professor replied, shooting Logan a glance that warned him he was serious. Logan ran a thick hand down his face.

"God," he said. The Professor raised an eyebrow. Logan rarely used that word, unless he was confronted with something morally complex and serious. "You…you can't just keep this from him, Chuck," Logan sighed. "It's his right to know."

"Knowledge can be harmful, Logan," the Professor warned him. "You should know that well."

Logan huffed. "I also know the desire to know certain things eats at your gut until you can't stand it. Kurt's always wondered who his parents were, fer better or worse. If he does ever find out"—

"Which won't happen, because you're not saying a word," the Professor reminded him.

—"Hypothetically, if he somehow found out," Logan compromised, sighing in defeat, "he'd hate you, probably forever, fer not tellin' him."

The Professor laced his fingers together and hung his head. "I know that. It's a risk I'm willing to take. I believe Kurt is a very fine, mature young man, but I'm choosing to keep this from him for his benefit. At least for the time being," he said. "He's got Forge to worry about. I don't think he needs anything else on his plate right now."

Logan growled but nodded. "I suppose you're right, Chuck. I shouldn't have argued with y"—

"Oh, no, Logan, I appreciate your thoughts. I'm not always right. You always say what's on your mind, and keep me honest," the Professor interjected before Logan could finish his sentence. "Thank you for complying with my wishes. I know this knowledge a burden you shouldn't have to carry. I'm sorry for that."

Logan half-smiled, half-frowned. "This has been a weird evening. I think I'm gonna go back on patrol." He turned to open the door, paused, and glanced back at the Professor. "Just promise me no more strange women are gonna pop up on campus when I'm not expecting it." The Professor smiled a little and turned to go into his bedroom.

"Goodnight, Logan."

Logan closed the door and slipped off into the darkness. "Night, Chuck," he muttered as he made his way to the front of the school. He sighed. "What a mess this is."

oOo

Forge woke up and the first things he noticed were a funny crack in the ceiling, the smell of cleaning chemicals, and the taste of blood in his mouth. His eyes hurt from the dim light. Quickly—almost immediately—he realized most of his body was numb, and this distressed him. Also, why was there something pressing against the inside of his throat? Slowly, he reached his arm up to touch his mouth, and his hand recoiled when it touched ribbed, cool plastic. He groaned, and his throat contracted, making the tube in his windpipe very noticeable. His eyes grew wide and he tried to sit up, only to have a strong, steady hand press against his chest, and a voice said, "Hey, hey, it's ok. It's ok."

Forge tilted his head and saw Hank standing over him, a clipboard under one arm. At once, he relaxed, but he didn't forget about the plastic tube in his throat, which was hurting, and it didn't escape his notice that he was still mostly numb from the chest up. He touched the tube gently, telling Hank he wanted it out. Hank nodded, and gently pushed Forge back into a lying down position, and slowly removed the tube. Forge squirmed at the odd sensation of ribbed plastic making its way up his throat. He almost threw up, but he kept the nausea he felt at bay by closing his eyes and humming a song to himself. When the tube was gone, he gasped, and his hand flew over his neck.

"Uhhh," he shuddered. "Hank, what happened to me?" he asked weakly. His brain was fuzzy from the drugs. He couldn't remember anything about why he was here.

"Sorry about that," Hank apologized, turning away and pretending to check something off on his clipboard. He wiped his face with one of his great blue hands and tried not to let Forge see he was upset. How could Forge have not noticed his arm was missing? Were the drugs keeping his body that numb and his brain that foggy? Hank pulled himself together and turned back around, his face calm.

"It's been a rough two days for you—that's how long you've been out. How, erm, how you feel?"

Forge closed his eyes. He listened to the pulse of blood in his ears. He inhaled deeply, relishing the feeling of being able to breathe without plastic in his windpipe. He was numb, too numb. His chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it, but his shoulders throbbed sluggishly under the numbness. He lifted his arm and stretched his fingers. His motions were slow, heavy. It took his brain a few moments to register that his other arm didn't respond when he willed it to stretch out. His good arm immediately flew across his chest and reached over to feel the other arm. Forge bit deep into his lip and glanced at Hank, catching the distress in his eyes. When he felt no arm, Forge's heart sunk, and he whimpered.

"Oh, god," he breathed, his throat closing up tightly. Hank knelt down beside Forge's bed and put a hand on his young patient.

"I'm so sorry. I….I wasn't sure how to tell you…I'm sorry," Hank whispered, letting his head fall in shame.

Forge's remaining hand curled into a fist. He was still biting his lip, so hard that it bled. "It's…ah, God, this is bad." He looked over at Hank, hoping there weren't any other body parts he was missing. "Are you sure I've only been out two days? That's a lot of blood to lose…." He tried to focus on the technical aspects instead of thinking about the blatant reality.

"Yeah, well, you can thank Sam and Kurt for giving you some blood. Luckily they had a compatible blood type to yours. Honestly, I didn't think you'd be awake this soon," Hank rambled on. He was surprised Forge was taking this turn of events so well, but on top of everything else he felt so guilty it hurt.

Forge actually smiled. "Hmm. I bet Kurt's blood has freaky regeneration powers like he does. That must be it. Maybe my arm will grow back, too." He spoke with humor, but Hank heard the seriousness, desperation, and fear in Forge's voice.

Hank put his hand on Forge's chest. "I tried my best to save your arm," he said. "But I couldn't do anything. I….I wish I could fix this, but there are some things I guess I can't…" He swallowed down a hard lump in his throat but tried to keep his voice even.

Forge patted Hank's hand reassuringly with his remaining hand. "It's ok," he said, suddenly very withdrawn and absent. "You couldn't do anything. Just tell me who exactly caused this to happen?"

Hank frowned, hoping this wouldn't come up, but it did seem an inevitable question. "One of the people from the mountains. They attacked you, and it got out of hand. I don't really know the details. Angel saw what happened, but he's not talking about it much. Lucky you were found, though, or you could have died."

Forge's jaw tightened. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"Not badly," Hank replied. Forge continued to stare off into space. Hank guessed the full weight on what was going on finally hit him, and this was some sort of mental numbness. "It's only you, and thankfully, I think you'll heal pretty quickly."

"How can I heal? My arm is completely gone…" Forge said in a deadpan voice. He finally lowered his eyes and looked Hank in face. His eyes were sad, hollow.

Hank felt the lump in this throat come back. "I don't know, but we'll think of something, ok?"

Forge shook his head. "My work….how can I ever go back to being a mechanic? I'm useless if I can't do my work. It's all I have. My life is over!" His voice rose a few octaves and the fear he felt filled his voice.

Hank curled his fingers around Forge's good hand. "Your life is NOT over," he said firmly. "It's going to be different now, but it's not over. You can work through this, ok? It's just another problem. Solving problems—that's what you do best. This is just another problem…."

oOo

Kurt was sitting on the edge of his window balcony when Angel ran into the room and ran over to the balcony. "Kurt, Kurt, Forge's awake! Come on!" Kurt looked up and jumped backwards so quickly he nearly fell off the balcony.

"Really? Zat's fast. Two days is hardly enough time to recover from such serious injuries." Angel nodded.

"That's what I thought, but Kitty and Bobby both said they already saw Forge and that he's pretty calm." Kurt grabbed Angel's hand and dragged him out of the room.

"Let's go, let's go, then," he said. Angel followed, grinning with anticipation.

"I bet Forge is loving the attention," he commented.

Kurt's smile fell a little and he sighed. "Don't be so excited. Forge is probably really depressed. Don't think he'll be happy to see us, or anyone for that matter. I'd be really shy if I was in his position…"

"Why?"

Angel and Kurt had slowed to a purposeful walk. "I'd feel helpless, trapped. Forge is a very proud person. He likes working, and being able to do things. He probably feels awful about being unable to work, feeling dependent."

Angel's wings drooped. "I was so excited, I didn't even think about any of that. But you're probably right, of course."

Kurt nodded. "We should just act normal and try to be respectful of ze delicate state our friend is in."

Angel agreed. He and Kurt made their way the infirmary, and Kurt knocked on the door. Hank opened it, his face twisted into an annoyed expression. "Is it just you two?"

"Ja."

"Fine. Come in, but keep it short. He's getting antsy with all these visitors. You two are the last ones I'm letting in, got it? Don't be telling everyone they can come visit Forge right now," Hank said seriously, keeping his voice low. Kurt and Angel nodded and followed Hank into the back part of the infirmary. Forge was lying on his back, his eyes glued to the ceiling. He did nothing to acknowledge Kurt or Angel's presence. Angel approached the bed slowly and nudged Forge on the shoulder with his wing.

"Hey, Forge," he said quietly, sitting back on his heels so that he was at Forge's level. Kurt squatted down beside him and mashed his hands together nervously.

"Forge?" Hank said, patting Forge on the cheek gently. Forge blinked and lowered his eyes. He looked around slowly and finally focused on Angel's nearby face. Immediately, his face light up and he smiled.

"Angel, Kurt, you came to visit?" he asked warmly. Kurt and Angel glanced at each other, not expecting this.

"Erm, yeah. Of course we came, buddy. We heard you were awake and we wanted to make sure you were doing ok," Angel replied.

"I'm fine," Forge said quite honestly, as if he wasn't upset at all.

"That's good news," Kurt said. He sensed restraint in Forge's voice, as if he was holding all of his emotions back, or shoving them down. It worried Kurt, but he didn't say anything. "I guess Hank told you what's been going on these last two days."

Forge shrugged. "Not much, from what I hear. Not since the mountains, right? Those guys didn't follow us or anything, did they?"

"Not that we can tell," Hank replied. "And who knows if we kept them from doing what they were out to do in the first place, but that doesn't matter now. All that matters is that you kids are safe."

Forge, Angel, and Kurt went silent. They were all thinking and feeling different things, but they shared a communal sense of relief and anxiety. Everyone was alive, at least. Forge was clearly not ok, but Angel and Kurt both knew he was strong enough to recover. How exactly Forge was going to go back to being a mechanic or helping out the school was anyone's guess. The future was uncertain, but as Hank had said, at least it was stable for the moment.

oOo

Kitty was tired from a long day. She dragged herself up to her room, watching the sunset through one of the many windows. The jagged tree horizon glowed against the dark red and blue of the sky. It was so peaceful. Kitty felt her heart lift just standing there staring at it. She'd had an emotionally rough day. She needed calm, peace.

Just then, she noticed someone sitting below on the first floor roof and she squinted to get a better view of the person. The tail flicking back and forth was a dead giveaway. She pressed her lips together, smiled a little and phased through the floor.

It took her a minute to phase up onto the right part of the roof to find Kurt again. She approached him slowly, quietly, but he still turned to see her coming long before she reached him.

"Darn you and your good hearing," she complained as she settled down beside him on the shingles.

"Trying to be sneaky, eh, Kitty? You're sneaking up on the wrong person," Kurt said warmly.

Kitty put her head on his shoulder. "Brat," she teased. Kurt chuckled. Kitty assessed his face and body language, trying to gauge whether or not Kurt would want to talk to her seriously. She decided to give it a shot. "I heard you talked to Forge," she said. "How was that?"

Kurt fidgeted. "Fine."

"Liar," Kitty accused. "Stop trying to be nice and tell me what happened."

"It was weird," Kurt confessed with a slow exhale. "He seemed like he'd….snapped. He was too calm. Too accepting. I felt like he vas dying on the inside. I could see it in his eyes, but he was trying to hide it so hard, so I didn't say anything. It would have been vay out of line, anyway."

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, it was like that with me, too. I asked Hank afterward why he was so calm, and Hank told me he'd been really depressed, and then all the sudden perked up when Rogue, Bobby and I came to visit. He probably doesn't want anyone to know how scared he really is. I understand."

Kurt smiled at Kitty's gentle analysis. He loved how sensitive and compassionate she was. "You're probably right," he said. "I hope zat we were of some small comfort, at least."

Kitty wrapped her arms around Kurt's chest. "Well, even if he didn't find us comforting today, I'm sure he will later when the shock wears off. He's going to need a lot of support."

"Yeah…."

Kitty looked into Kurt's eyes and gave him a puzzled look. "You seem pretty out of it yourself. Something else on your mind?"

Kurt was startled at how easily Kitty had picked up on that. He was hardly aware of it himself. He didn't want to tell her about it, though, so he said, "Nah, I'm fine. Just tired. We should probably go inside and get to bed. It's late."

"Not that late," Kitty said firmly. "I'm waiting until all the daylight's gone, at least." Kurt smiled.

"Fine. We can stay out here until the sun's gone," he agreed. While Kitty leaned on him and contentedly watched the sunset, Kurt mulled over darker thoughts.

oOo

**Chapter 3 is finished! Sorry it's short. Chappie 4 is gonna be longer (and more exciting—I hope), and BTW that's coming soon (I mean it. I have nothing to do over summer other than work part time. Writing is a priority for the next 2 months.) Anyway, please keep reading and reviewing, guys. It means a lot. :)**

**-The Ember Raven**


	4. Chapter 4

**After All This Time…**

**Author's Note: Thank you to my reviewers for chapter 3 (JesusLover13, Guest, Doglover500). Just wanted to remind you how awesome you are and how much I love you all. Here's chapter 4, and hey, I actually posted 2 chapters of the same story within a week of each other. WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?! R&R. :)**

**Chapter 4:**

It had been four days since Forge had woken up from the accident. Hank was still adamant about not letting a lot people visit Forge out of fear of overwhelming him. Logan and Storm had both visited him and said the most encouraging things they could think of, but they both left feeling rather useless, as neither of them had ever been through exactly what Forge was going through. The Professor came to visit Forge after Storm and Logan had failed, hoping he could get through to the boy.

Forge's façade of calm had fallen in two days, and he mostly moped around, feeling depressed and lonely within himself. He was snappy with Hank, slow to accept help or advice, and closed to anyone else. When the Professor came to visit, Forge was sitting up in bed, staring blankly at a spot on the opposite wall, purposefully ignoring his teacher's approaching presence. His jaw tightened and his fist clenched when the Professor came in, but the calm, peaceful vibes that the Professor always radiated relaxed him despite his attempts to close up.

Xavier came to a halt beside Forge's bed and sat there in silence for a minute until Forge acknowledged his presence. Slowly, Forge looked at the Professor and sighed. He figured the Prof wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so ignoring him would do no good.

"Hullo, Professor," he said slowly, glumly. The Professor smiled to himself. It was a start, he supposed.

"How are you feeling?" the Professor asked casually, though he felt a little insensitive for asking such a blatantly obvious question.

"What do you think?" Forge snapped. "I've been stuck in this stupid infirmary for four days, and I can't even sit up without losing my balance, and I…I…" He dropped his head into his good hand and drew his knees to his chest defensively. The Professor took in all of his pain and suffering and decided talking wasn't a good way to help his student. Slowly, carefully, he extended his hand and touched Forge on the side of the face. Forge looked up, not expecting to be touched. He heard the Professor's voice in his mind, saying, _It's alright, Forge. Let me help you._

Forge could have easily closed his mind and pushed his teacher out, but the Professor was so unobtrusive and peaceful that Forge sighed and opened his mind, fully exposing himself. He shivered, feeling vulnerable. Suddenly, his eyes seemed to turn off, and then he was standing, or sitting, rather, in some sort of grassy field. The sensory input was real, but dulled. There was the slight scent of grass and trees, but it was barely noticeable. His sense of touch was also dull, barely noticeable. Forge stood up shakily and nearly fell over. He gritted his teeth, remembering that he couldn't balance well without his other arm. He looked down loathingly at his shoulder and quickly looked away, horrified. There was a gaping hole that ran from his shoulder to his ribs. There was a smaller hole on the left side of his chest. Forge was so shocked that he stumbled backwards and fell over.

"Forge, it's alright, remember?" the Professor's easy, soft voice said from somewhere nearby. Forge looked up, seeing the Professor sitting a few feet away, a warm but concerned expression on his face.

"What's happening?" Forge shuddered, trying not to look at his shoulder and side.

"We're in a state of mental projection," the Professor explained. "In this place, our physical bodies reflect how we see ourselves in our minds."

"What?" Forge cried. "But this place is real, isn't it? No, it can't be…"

"We're still in the school, physically," the Professor affirmed. "But in our minds we are free to go anywhere."

"Are we in your mind?" Forge asked, slowly trying to stand up again.

"We're not in anyone's mind. Our minds are just meeting somewhere neutral that I have created. I use this field to meditate and relax sometimes." Forge looked around, noticing the trees, the far away mountains, the soft sky. Slowly, he looked back down at himself and shivered.

"Why do I look like this?" Forge asked.

The Professor smiled sadly. "You're mental injuries are manifesting themselves physically. You're fears and insecurities about losing your arm are causing you more damage than the actual injury. It's tearing you up, literally, on the inside." Forge just stared silently at his wounds. He moved his hand toward the small hole in his chest but the wound closed up when he tried to touch it. His hand recoiled instinctively.

"Why did it do that?" Forge asked quietly.

The Professor shrugged. "I believe you know the answer to that question, if you think about it."

Forge sighed sadly and closed his eyes. "I guess I didn't think about it…" Xavier nodded.

"Do you know what I did?" he asked, looking off into the distance as if lost in another place, another time. "When I lost the use of my legs, I mean." Forge looked up at his mentor and shook his head.

"Oh, well no. I never really thought about it…" Forge's expression was that of embarrassment, as though he felt bad for never thinking about the subject.

"It's ok," the Professor said with a small wistful smile. "I remember it so well, even though it's been a long time. I was a proud young man. Capable, confident. When I learned I was paralyzed, I didn't believe it. It was surreal, like a dream. I went through a few weeks of denial at the beginning, you know? I didn't want to admit I would never walk again. I was upset about the whole situation, obviously. The few friends I had at the time—thank God they cared about me enough to put up with my behavior. I took out a lot my anger on them…" The Professor looked sad suddenly. Sad and regretful. Just looking at his face was enough to make Forge feel terrible about his behavior in the past few days. He hung his head shamefully and his face flushed with red.

"But you know what helped me get over my anger?" the Professor asked, noticing Forge's behavior. Forge looked up a little and glanced at the Professor through his shaggy dark hair.

"What?" he said very quietly.

"Well, several things, but mostly just realizing that I can't control what cards I've been dealt. Life is going to get the better of you unless you rise to the challenges it gives you. Someone told me once that the strongest people are given the hardest challenges, but life never gives you anything that you can't face if you really try." The Professor smiled knowingly. "You are stronger than you know, and you have friends here, too, who want to help you though this, if you let them."

Forge frowned. "I know," he said, but his voice was weak, full of doubt. Then, he burst out, "How can I ever be normal after this?"

"You'll never be exactly normal," the Professor said, "but you can still do so much with what you have left. And you're a brilliant mechanic." At this, Forge felt a small smile tug at his lips. The Professor smiled a bit himself. "Maybe you can make up what you've lost," he added with a wink.

Forge raised an eyebrow, never having considered that before. "I could make myself another arm," he murmured. "I mean maybe. I don't know how…"

The Professor smiled. "Don't worry about that right now. You just need to heal, and that means relaxing a bit more and accepting help from those who are willing to give it. The rest of it will come later."

Forge nodded. "So….basically, you pulled me here to tell me get my act together?" The Professor chuckled a little at Forge's bluntness.

"Basically," the Professor agreed. "If not for your sake than for the sakes of everyone taking care of you. Look, I really understand how hard this past week has been, but you're being so negative that you can't help yourself, and nor can anyone else."

Forge smiled a little too, but the guiltiness returned. "I'm sorry I've been so ungrateful to you and everyone else," he admitted. "I just hate feeling so useless and needy."

"I understand," the Professor said forgivingly. Slowly, the world around them bled into blackness, then whiteness, then the two of them were back in the infirmary, just as they had been. He patted Forge on the shoulder and turned to leave. "You really are a remarkable young man," he said as he wheeled himself out. "You've certainly been handling all this better than I did after my accident. Just remember to relax a bit." He smiled mischievously in a way that Forge couldn't help but smile back. He looked back down at his missing arm just to make sure the wound from the grassy field was gone. It was, and he sighed with relief.

oOo

Angel couldn't sleep. Not because anything on his mind was troubling, but because Kurt kept making quiet whimpers and tossing around in his sleep. Angel was somewhat used to this, but lately, he'd been sleeping lightly, and couldn't seem to block the noise out. He groaned and buried his face into his pillow. No good. He sighed, rolled over, and sat on the edge of his bed. He sighed again. He didn't do it very often, but if Kurt was really sleeping restlessly, Angel would crawl into his bed and sleep beside him. Only Kitty knew about this, because she'd come by one morning and spotted the two of them in one bed. She teased Angel about once or twice, but she knew he did it out of friendship love, nothing else.

Angel stood up carefully, stretching his achy joints, and crossed the floor to Kurt's bed. He slowly crawled in beside his friend and wrapped one arm around him. "It's ok, buddy," he muttered calmly. "Whatever you're dreaming about—it's just a dream, ok?" And with that, he put his head down and drifted off to sleep. After a while, Kurt relaxed and stopped tossing about and muttering to himself. Angel's presence had the desired effect.

However, in a few short hours, Kurt woke up, stiffly and quietly. His hands clenched automatically into fists. A fear reflex. A scream wedged itself in his throat, but stopped short when he felt a weight on his ribs. He tilted his head, catching a glimpse of Angel's wispy blonde hair. He exhaled and relaxed. The fear from the nightmare ebbed away, leaving Kurt calmer but still twitchy. Carefully assessing the situation, Kurt slipped out from under Angel's protecting grip and crawled backwards out of bed. He padded across the floor to the door, opened it as quietly as possible, and teleported downstairs. In the kitchen, the soft, dim glow of the sink light greeted him. He shrugged in the pale light and passed through the kitchen, finding it of little comfort. He made his way around to the living room, rec room, and finally, the main entrance before deciding to slip outside.

It was cool outside, but it felt good, refreshing. Kurt liked the feel of the wind as it bit at his face and tugged at his thin t-shirt. He crossed the yard and picked a tall, shady tree to sit under. He sat down and stared up at the starry sky, the thin moon, and even the faint red glow of mars. Here, he found comfort, but it was short lived. After a few minutes, he heard a distant rustle from a nearby tree, and was on his feet at once. He relaxed for a minute, thinking he'd overacted, but then he heard the soft drumming of someone's heartbeat as they approached. A warm, wet, fast heartbeat. Not human.

"Who's there?" Kurt breathed, wondering whether or not he should cry out and wake someone else up, in case he wasn't prepared for what he couldn't see. A slender, dark figure emerged from behind a nearby tree. The figure was female, slightly taller than Kurt's own build. The woman put her hands up defensively and approached cautiously.

"I….I didn't mean to scare you," the voice said apologetically in a slight English accent.

"You didn't scare me," Kurt denied, circling about the dark woman. "But if you don't come out of the shadows—now—you might end up being the frightened one," he threatened. Kurt was never very good at intimidation, but he felt rather insecure and exposed, and the feeling of power comforted him slightly.

The woman nodded her consent and stepped forward hesitantly until the moonlight illuminated her body. She looked down sheepishly, waiting for Kurt's reaction. For a moment, all he did was stare. She was blue and red and scaly and just how he remembered her from the day in the mountains. Her cold, yellow eyes were lowered, as if shamefully. Kurt couldn't decide if he should run away or attack, but he ended up doing neither, too scared to act.

"Gott," he muttered bitterly. "It's you—zat woman from ze mountains. What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here, not after what you've done to us."

The woman nodded again, accepting his angry words. "I know about your friend, and I'm truly sorry about that. Nothing I can say will change that, I know."

"No, it won't. And you're not sorry," Kurt hissed, "not yet, anyways." And he launched himself at her, throwing a hard punch to her jaw, barely missing and scraping her chin. The woman recoiled, but didn't fight back. Her hands went up again.

Kurt went at her again, this time teleporting to get closer, throwing punches at her, landing a few of them. It didn't take more than four or five angry blows to the chest and back to put the grown woman on her knees. She cried out, but said nothing, did nothing. Kurt stopped then, panting not from the fighting, but from the heavy feeling in his chest. Attacking her hadn't made him feel better. In fact, he felt worse.

"What's wrong with you?" he demanded, keeping a few feet's distance. "You won't fight. Why did you come here?"

The woman looked up for the first time, her face grim but not angry. "I wanted to talk to you," she muttered, wrapping one arm around her ribs and wincing. Despite himself, Kurt felt awful for attacking her. He knew it was stupid. He had no reason to pity her—he should be furious at her, for putting him and his friends through a hellish nightmare that none of them cared to remember. But he wasn't angry or upset. The pity took over, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I know you," Kurt said plainly, inching closer, hesitating, and then offering the woman his hand. "If you do anything hostile…" he warned as she took his offer gingerly. The woman pressed her lips together.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I never meant to hurt you, or anyone in the mountains," she replied, straightening herself and looking down on Kurt. Kurt suddenly regretted being kind, helping her up. She was at least four inches taller than him, and she must have outweighed him by thirty pounds. He suspected she could be a lethal fighter if she wanted to, and he knew she was retraining herself around him, though he had no idea why.

Kurt lowered his eyes uncertainly. "What did you want to talk to **me **about?" he asked slowly, defensively.

"I…I'm Raven," the woman said. "I, uh, you do know me," she tried again, stumbling nervously over her words. "It's been a long time."

Kurt raised an eyebrow, asking her to continue.

"Please don't get mad or think I'm lying, because I'm not," Raven said, positioning herself defensively, as if expecting to be attacked. "You probably won't want to hear this, but….Kurt, I'm your mother."

Kurt stared at the woman, and tried to speak, but the breath caught in his throat. He shook his head, finally, and said, "You're sick." He turned and ran for the mansion, leaving the woman standing under the trees, eyes downcast and lonely. He teleported away as fast as he could, reappearing in the dorm hallway. He made his way to one of the large walk-in closets at the end of the hall, locked himself inside, and buried his face in a winter jacket and cried.

At first, he cried out of anger. Then out of fear and uncertainty. Finally, he just resorted to curling up and rocking back and forth slowly, because there was nothing else left inside of him. Kurt lay on the floor of the closet and cried inside until even his head hurt.

Outside, Raven stood under the tree in the moonlight, watching her trembling hands. She let cold, silent tears streak down her face as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. When she, too, could not cry anymore, she whispered, "I'm so sorry", turned into a sparrow, and darted away into the nearby forest.

oOo

Angel woke up early, first noticing that he was alone when he was not supposed to be. He sat up quickly, alertly, trying to assess the situation. Kurt was gone—he was neither in his bed or Angel's, nor was he anywhere else in the room. Angel got to his feet, walked around in a circle for a minute, then darted out of the room. "Kuuuuurrt,"he hissed down the hallway, looking in both directions. Nothing.

Angel walked around the dorm before heading downstairs. Once, he considered going back to his room. Why was he looking for his roommate, who was perfectly capable of looking after himself, and didn't have any particular reason to still be in his room, even in the mansion, at this hour? Still, Angel couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something was wrong. "Kurt?" he whispered again as he wandered around downstairs. He passed through the kitchen and noticed Storm taking coffee by a sunny window. "Storm, have you seen Kurt?" Angel asked hopefully.

Storm put her coffee cup down in her lap and turned to her student, smiling. "No, I haven't. Sorry, Warren." Immediately, she sensed the distress in his face, and her expression shifted. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

Angel didn't want her to worry, especially since he didn't know if everything was indeed alright or not. So he bobbed his head and said, "Yeah, it's fine. Sorry to disturb you." And he left with a small, gracious smile.

Angel finally gave up and went back upstairs. He was almost to his room when a startled scream caught his attention. The voice was clearly Rogue's. He rushed down the hallway and turned a corner to see Rogue standing right outside one of the winter closets. She was yelling at someone or something, almost unintelligibly, she was talking so fast. "Youlittlecretin! Whatareyoudoinginacloset? Getoutthisveryinstant!" And so on.

Angel approached cautiously. "Everything ok?" he asked. Rogue whipped her head around to look at him, her face somewhere between fear, anger, and embarrassment.

"Do ah look okay?" she grumbled. Angel noticed Kurt standing in the closet, peering out quietly.

"Sorry," Kurt muttered, rubbing his neck absently.

"What the hell are yah doing in a closet, crawler?" Rogue huffed. "You nearly scared me to death."

"Nothing," Kurt whispered, slowly pushing past her. He walked right past Angel, too, hardly acknowledging him.

Angel and Rogue exchanged glances. "Go collect your roommate and lock him in your room or something," Rogue growled, marching off. Angel sighed and ran after Kurt.

"Kurt, you ok buddy?" he asked kindly, stopping Kurt as he walked. Kurt stared down at the floor, his eyes vacant. He looked as though he'd gotten no sleep.

"No," he murmured.

"What's wrong?" Angel demanded gently, ducking down a bit, trying to get Kurt to look up at him.

"Zat blue woman from the mountains—the scary one who I fought—, she came to talk to me last night," Kurt said hesitantly, avoiding eye contact.

"What did she say?" Angel inquired, thinking Kurt had had a nightmare of some kind.

Kurt shrugged. "She said she was….she said she was my mother," he said finally, as if speaking it made it seem less real. He closed his eyes. "I want to believe it was a dream, but I know it happened. She did say zat to me."

Angel suddenly grew concerned in a different way. "But, I was with you all night. I didn't feel you wake up or leave or anything."

"I did it slowly," Kurt explained, looking up a little at his friend, "so you vouldn't wake up. I snuck outside for some air, und I felt someone watching me, und it was zat woman…"

Angel's brow tightened. "Go on," he said firmly.

Kurt nodded. "It was veird. She didn't vant to fight. She just vanted to talk. She seemed so frightened about it, like she was a kid. Und zat's when she told me she was going to tell me something I didn't vant to hear. She said she vas my mother….that's all."

"She just left after that?" Angel asked

"No, I ran away. I didn't believe her," he admitted, his voice hollow, "but she sounded honest, like she really meant it, und like she didn't vant me to be upset."

"She's probably just a sick woman trying to manipulate you emotionally," Angel said protectively. "Don't believe it. It's probably all made up."

Kurt swallowed hard. "I vant to believe you, but I know zat woman vas right. I just feel it."

Angel wrapped his arms around his friend, sensing the finality of the conversation, and the resolve in Kurt's voice. Whether it was true or not, Kurt firmly believe it, and that was enough for him. "Oh, god, Kurt," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

Kurt nodded but pushed himself away from Angel. "Can I be alone for a bit, please?" he asked quietly. "I just need some time to think. And…don't tell anyone else about zis?" Angel nodded sharply.

"I won't."

oOo

There was a knock on the Professor's door that was unmistakably Logan's. The Professor was in his chair, reading a thin book, when he looked up over the rim of his glasses and said, "Come in, Wolverine". Logan pushed open the door and entered stiffly before relaxing a little and sitting on a chair across from the Professor.

"Sorry t'bother you, Chuck, but I just wanted to update you on sumething you might not be real happy about."

"What happened?" Xavier asked calmly. He sensed the tension in Logan's voice, the rigidness of his body language, even the shortness of his breaths.

"I was patrollin' the grounds this morning and I noticed a scent that didn't belong—our blue skinned lady friend has been sneakin' around again. Any chance you saw her?"

The Professor closed his book firmly and put in down in his lap. "No," he said, a bit stiff himself. "I didn't see her, nor did I sense any intruding presence in the night. But Raven is a shape shifter—she could have come onto school grounds as an animal or some sort of creature I couldn't detect."

"Or maybe she just wasn't trying to intrude," a new voice said from the doorway, startling both Logan and Xavier. It was Kurt standing by the door, arms crossed defensively, a cool, unreadable expression on his face.

"Kurt, can I help you?" Xavier asked, not sure how much Kurt has heard. Kurt twitched.

"Maybe," he said, his voice bitter and cold. "You could start by explaining vhy you know zat Raven's been on school grounds before und haven't told the rest of the school about it. Anything else you know?"

Xavier and Logan looked at each other briefly. Xavier sent Logan a glance that said, 'It's ok,' and Logan relaxed a little. The Professor frowned sadly and patted a chair for Kurt to sit in.

"Yes, there is quite a bit I know about Raven Darkholme. The question is, why do you know her name, and what more do you want to know about her?"

Kurt sat down and stared his teacher right in the eyes. "First, tell me one thing—is she my mother?"

oOo

**Mushahaha! We shall see what happens next in Chappie 5! Also coming soon, I hope. Please R&R. BTW….no one make any gay Kurt/Angel jokes. It's immature. Guys can show affection, and it doesn't mean they're a couple. So just no.**

**-The Ember Raven**


	5. Chapter 5

**After All This Time…**

**Author's Note: Sorry about being a bit slow on updating this chapter. Writer's block again. Grrr! But there were lots of lovely reviews to keep me going, so thanks everyone. Here's chapter 5!**

**Chapter 5:**

The Professor shifted in his chair and wrung his hands together, but never let his gaze fall. Kurt's gaze was direct, unavoidable, and intense. The Professor looked into his hard stare, trying to read his student's mind through his eyes. There was pain, confusion, doubt. And fear. A fear of his question being answered. And yet, he had to know.

Logan withdrew within himself. This conversation had narrowed down to Kurt and the Professor, and Logan knew he had no place in it. He wanted to leave, but another part of him was hungry for information. He knew the Professor knew more than he wanted to admit. Frankly, he wanted to hear about Raven, though he realized it was nosy of him. He sensed Kurt's fear, but he had to hand it to the kid for having the guts for confronting the Professor, and for asking a question he might not want to know the answer to….

The Professor finally sighed and spoke. "As far as I know, she is your mother, Kurt," he said, sitting back with resignation, opening himself up to more questions. "I'm sorry you found out as you did," he added, trying shift away from the fact that he had known and withheld this information.

Kurt caught on quickly. "But you've known about her? For how long?" If Kurt was still nervous, he wasn't showing it. His voice was steely, infused with quiet anger.

"A long time," the Professor replied, keeping his voice calm, though it had lost its jovial ring. "Your mother and I have known each other since we were children." Kurt sat back, startled out of his serious, confrontational posture.

"You've never…spoken of her…" he said slowly. "Und how long have you known zat she's…..related to me?"

The Professor stretched his fingers before locking them back together. "Hmm, perhaps it would be best if I told you a story, instead of answering questions one at a time. I'll try to make sense of it for you, as best I can," he replied diplomatically. "If you still have questions, ask away." Kurt nodded, almost unperceivably.

"Fair enough," he said. And so the Professor began his tale:

"Well, I met your mother as a young boy. She….was running from her parents (physically obvious mutants were rare thirty or so years ago) and looking for a place to stay. I found her in my mother's kitchen, standing there in the middle of the night, hungry, alone. I let her sleep in one of our unused maid quarters, kept her a secret from my parents. We became good friends—she and I. I'd always felt so alone before I met her. Afraid I was alone with my….talents. She made me feel more normal, and I never minded her true appearance, (though she often kept the form of a normal child) which made her feel better about herself as well. (1)

"After a year or so of laying low, I suggested to Raven that she assume the form of a young woman and get hired as a maid or something so that she could live in and move about our mansion freely. My mother hired her as my babysitter, which was rather ironic, I think, but we both liked the arrangement. Anyway, that went on until she was 15 or so, at which point she left the mansion and got a job. I started to work too, and when we became adults, we did our own things. I went to college, and she worked on and off.

"After I got through college, I met Eric—Magneto, as you know him now—and, well, Raven found his ideals very interesting. When Eric began his war on humans, Raven went with him. That was my fault, partially. I had been ignoring her, not giving her the support she needed. She was struggling with her powers and identity, and Magneto just told her everything she wanted to hear." The Professor shrugged. "She was always torn, though. She told me she wasn't against me, but then turned and did things I disapproved of. Anyway, she disappeared for about a year after she went with Eric, and shortly afterwards, she turned up at my parents' house."

"Why did she come back?" Kurt asked quietly when the Professor paused for a moment.

The Professor pressed his lips together. "This is the part where you come in," he said slowly. "When she showed up at my house that night, she was upset, frightened. She told me she was pregnant, and that Magneto was expressing interest in her child. You see, Magneto was (and still is, if I'm not mistaken) very interested in mutant genetics. He wanted to know 'what made us different' and he wanted to know if he could manipulate mutant genes, creating super-mutants of sorts. Anyway, your mother was terrified that he would experiment on her child, and so she ran away from Eric for a while. She told me very little, except that she wanted to leave Magneto, but couldn't because he had some control over her she couldn't escape." The Professor stopped again. "Raven left again that same night. She told me Eric was following her, so she left to avoid trouble, I guess. After that, I didn't see her again for many years, and we never really spoke much until the other evening when she visited me in my study," he concluded.

"It all adds up that you are her son, Kurt. You're the right age, and well—the physical similarities cannot be overlooked. I'll admit I suspected you were related to her the moment I met you."

Kurt sat very still, soaking all of the information in. His ears twitched slightly, and then he lowered his head. "But, how was I found in Germany, then?" he asked slowly. "That part doesn't make sense."

The Professor nodded. "No, it fits with Raven's story. After she and Eric went off to go find other mutants and turn then against humans, they went to Germany for a few years. It was Eric's homeland, after all. It fits."

Kurt cringed suddenly. "So….who is my father?"

The Professor ran a hand along his bald head. "I have no idea. Your mother only told me that he was a mutant she met in Germany." Xavier clipped the sentence short, as if there was more that he knew but didn't want to disclose. Kurt caught the hesitation but ignored it.

Logan, who hadn't spoken at all, and whose presence Kurt and the Professor had hardly noticed, finally spoke up. "I want t'know where she went fer all those years," he asked. "I mean, she shows up at yer house seventeen years ago, Chuck, then basically falls of the face of the earth until last week."

The Professor sat back in his chair. "I know very little about what Raven has been up to. I do know this: after a few years with Eric, she left him. I believe that was when Eric first took interest in Genoshia. He went several years without really contacting anyone. It was just him, his family, and a handful of mutants on that island, building away. During that time, Raven joined some sort of government organization. Something that looked military related. I'm not sure. She ended up joining Magneto back in Genoshia as his right hand woman, eventually."

The answer seemed to satisfy Logan. Kurt was silent, thinking. His face was stiff, hard. Too tense. Logan and Xavier both felt the intense emotion he was trying to reign in.

"Is there anything else you wish to know?" Charles asked kindly.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Kurt demanded, glancing up at the Professor. "If you knew she was my mother, why didn't you tell me? I've always wanted to know about my real parents…." He swallowed. "Was it because you thought I couldn't handle the truth?"

The Professor exhaled slowly, measuredly. "Not that you couldn't handle it, so much as I didn't want to give you a burden that you didn't need to bear."

Kurt snapped. "How could you think zat it's not 'my burden'?" he demanded, bolting to his feet and glaring down at his teacher. "And how is it your responsibility to decide vhat I do und don't know? This is about my life, und I deserve to know the truth. I….I trusted you to never lie to me. I….vas wrong," he breathed quietly, but still angrily. His eyes flashed with pain, and he turned away from Xavier. A moment later, Charles and Logan were alone. Only a small wisp of smoke remained where Kurt had been standing.

"Well," Logan said, rising slowly to his feet, "that could have gone better."

oOo

Forge's day had been going great until 30 seconds ago. As he walked across the room, he felt a strange sense of irony, but it ended up giving him a boost of confidence.

(Slightly more than 30 seconds ago...)

Forge strode out of one of the dorm rooms, smiling. He had been visiting Peter, and they had been talking about random, everyday guy topics. No sympathetic speeches. No awkward silences. Peter had treated him casually. Most of Forge's friends were being like that—trying to treat him normally to help him move on. It was a good feeling.

Forge needed his friends to treat him normally, because he still wasn't feeling normal himself. It hadn't even been two weeks since the accident. Certainly, his balance had gotten much better, and his attitude had improved immensely, but there were new challenges to rise to, things to get used to, and things to let go of. Like the fact that he kept imagining himself picking up a pen or pencil, only to realize he had to use his other hand, because his dominant one was gone. It was weird to have to relearn how to write. How to type on a keyboard, how to dial the phone, how to put on clothes….

Forge had been joking about his struggles with Peter a bit. "It's weird, Peter, but now that I have to do everything with one hand, I'm really noticing how many activities require two hands. I spent like, thirty seconds trying to unlock the door to the garage the other day. It's crazy." Peter had lowered his eyes shyly, hoping to avoid this subject.

He didn't know what to say, so he smiled good naturedly at Forge and nodded.

"I think I'll be able to go back to being a mechanic again," Forge went on. "I'll need to make some modifications to most of my tools, but I think I can manage. Scott offered to help me, if I needed it."

"That was nice of him," Peter mumbled.

"Yeah," Forge said, stretching his legs. "I have another project planned, too."

"What?"

"I'm going to build myself an artificial arm. I've been researching, see, and I think it should be pretty manageable." Peter raised a thick, dark eyebrow.

"It sounds really complicated to me. That's a lot of moving parts."

"I'm doing my homework," Forge assured him. "I'm going to start on it in a few weeks, or whenever I've gotten back into the swing of things."

"You're looking much better," Peter commented. "You should come back to helping Logan program the Danger Room sessions. They're not as much fun without you."

Forge smiled, flattered. "I'll get on that, too, I guess," he replied. Peter nodded again.

And their conversation went on like that, finally digressing to mindless 'guy talk', so that both Forge and Peter were more comfortable. After an hour or so, Forge excused himself, hoping to talk to Logan about something. Instead, as he walked peacefully down through the winding halls of the school, he found Kurt, sitting on a wide window sill and crying to himself. For the first time that day, Forge let his smile fall.

He paused, hesitated for moment, then carefully walked up beside his friend and patted him on the arm. "Kurt, what's wrong?" he asked. Kurt looked up and wiped his sleeve across his face.

"Uh, nothing," he sniffed, smiling a little. "Just had a bad day."

"What happened?" Forge sat on the sit beside Kurt and stared at him intently, making it clear he was not leaving.

Kurt shrugged flippantly. He didn't want to talk to Forge about this, considering his news was that his newly discovered mother was working with the woman who injured Forge in the first place. It seemed like too much of a mess for Kurt to explain straightforwardly. "Have you ever vanted to know something, but zen when you found out, you realized you never should have asked in the first place?"

Forge nodded, so Kurt continued. "It's complicated," he said. "I just….alvays vanted to know this….thing, und I thought I vould be able to handle it, but I can't. I don't know vhat to do. Und, someone else knew about this thing and they didn't tell me and now I don't feel like I can trust them…." Kurt muttered angrily.

Forge cocked his head, trying to make any sense of the nonsense Kurt had spouted at him. Forge knew very little about Kurt's past, so he was drawing a blank as to exactly what Kurt was referring to. "You're not going to get any more specific than that, are you?" Forge asked.

Kurt nodded. "Nope."

"Well," Forge said, leaning his back against the warm window pane, "it sounds to me like you're taking out your anger on the wrong person, here."

"How?" Kurt sniffed quietly.

"I don't know who was keeping this information from you (or what this information is), but since it ended up being so terrible, they were probably trying to protect you," he went on. "That's just what it sounds like, from my perspective."

"But, I wanted to know, und they knew that, und didn't tell me anyway," Kurt argued feebly.

Forge shrugged. "You know, my mom did something like that to me one time, and I got really mad at her for not telling me. It was awful."

"Vhat did she not tell you?"

Forge smiled a little, remembering that turbulent time in his childhood. "My dad left my mom and me when I was really young, so we were pretty poor," he explained. "But then, a few years later, we seemed to be making a lot more money, and I wondered why. My mom told me it was a secret, and that I didn't really want to know." Forge shrugged. "But I really did want to know. I did some snooping and found out she was sleeping with other guys for money." Forge's face darkened. "I was so embarrassed and upset that I called my mom a whore to her face and told her she was horrible for lying to me. It was….really bad. Eventually, I calmed down and told her I didn't mean it (I felt really guilty), but I had been so angry at her for not telling me. I realized it would have been a lot better if I'd just never asked. And I was so embarrassed to know that that was what she spent her evenings doing. I had a lot of trouble coming to terms with that. It was a painful topic. But eventually, I got the courage to confront her about it, and she and I talked about the issue, and decided we'd rather live with the low income until I was old enough to work. She stopped sleeping with guys after that." Forge shrugged and looked up, reading Kurt's expression. (2)

Kurt's mouth was slightly open, in a state of mute shock. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes parents and adults (and even friends) keep stuff from us for our own good, even if we don't know it. But once you know something bad like that, you gotta deal with the problem instead of blaming the people who are on your side." Forge nudged Kurt in the ribs before standing up and leaving. "Whatever's going on Kurt, just deal with it. Don't run away from it," he said as he walked away. "You have friends. We're here to support you."

Kurt sat there on the window sill, closed his eyes, and began to consider what he'd just been told.

oOo

**Again, sorry that took so long, guys (and sorry it was so short!). Chapter 6 coming soon. Also (1) yes, I stole some of this from the X-men movie. So sue me. I'm kind of sucky at creating good original backstories. I'm sorry. A lot of this doesn't fit with any show, movie, or comic. But it's called FanFICTION for a reason. (2) Yes, I just made up a weird Forge backstory, too. I have no idea where Forge came from, so this is what I've come up with for the sake of the plot. Just letting you guys know that I am aware of my meddling with the story elements.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing.**

**-The Ember Raven**


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